In a bid to ensure traceability of drugs, the Kerala State Drugs Control department has sent a letter to the Keralam government seeking an interim restriction on pharmaceutical firms directly procuring medicines from other States.
The department has sought the restriction for a period of six months, during which the firms would be required to procure medicines through authorised medical depots within Keralam.
Why the restriction?
“One of the challenges we face is ensuring the traceability of medicines being sold within the State,” said an official with the department. “A trend we have been observing is that medicines brought in for institutional supply are being sold in the general market. While these medicines may themselves be genuine and original products, their outer packaging gets altered. Medicines for institutional supply are available at heavily subsidised rates, and these are pushed into the market again, where they are sold at regular market prices. This kind of diversion is happening in other States, which is why the request was made,” he added.
According to the official, it was after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that retailers were permitted to procure medicines from other States, making it difficult to trace the sources of medicines and their manufacturers.
“At present, anyone can purchase medicines from anywhere, making it difficult to trace them. We will not be able to cross-check with suppliers in other States, and quite often they will not respond to our communications. But if the medicines are purchased from within the State, the authorised depot is directly connected with the company; there are no middlemen involved, and it will be easy for us to verify,” the official said.
‘Legal issues’
He, however, noted that it could be difficult to implement this as direct procurement has been allowed since the implementation of GST, and there could be some legal issues. “Our intention is to implement this for a short time and then observe,” he added.
All-Kerala Chemists and Druggists Association (AKCDA) president A.N. Mohan said that the ability to procure medicines from outside Keralam has increased the risk of spurious and substandard medicines entering the market. He added that, as per their understanding, medicines allocated for Central government departments such as the Railways and Defence, which are provided at special rates, are obtained by middlemen from other States through clandestine methods.
“These are then sold and end up entering our markets when retailers purchase them from other States. It makes it difficult to trace where the medicines are arriving from. Some new-generation outlets that offer huge discounts have entered the picture, and their sole focus is on making profit,” said Mr. Mohan. He added that the only way to weed out the middlemen involved in the process was to bring in restrictions on procuring medicines from other States.
Published - October 04, 2026 07:00 am IST